Holiday and holiday pay

Updating author: Marc Meryon

On this page:
Summary
Future developments
Action point checklist
Key references
Questions and answers
Holiday and holiday pay overview
Meaning of "worker"
Excluded categories
Implications for health and safety
Statutory holiday entitlement
Employers that, as of 1 October 2007, provide 5.6 weeks' leave
Bank and public holidays
The holiday year
A week's pay
Including holiday pay in wages
Timing of holiday
Holiday in first year of employment
Holiday and sickness absence
Entitlement to pay in lieu of holiday on termination of employment
Meaning of "relevant agreement" and "workforce agreement"
Complaints to an employment tribunal

Summary

3.411

• Under reg.13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833), workers are entitled to four weeks' holiday in each leave year. (See 3.413 Holiday and holiday pay overview)
• Workers are also entitled to an additional 1.6 weeks' leave under reg.13A, meaning that the minimum statutory annual leave entitlement is 5.6 weeks. (See 3.413 Holiday and holiday pay overview)
• Regulation 13A does not apply to employers that, as of 1 October 2007, met certain requirements. (See 3.418 Employers that, as of 1 October 2007, provide 5.6 weeks' leave)
• During the first year of workers' employment, the amount of leave that they can take at any time is limited to the amount of leave that they have accrued at that time, calculated monthly in advance. (See 3.424 Holiday in first year of employment)
• Leave entitlement under reg.13 and reg.13A may not be replaced by a payment in lieu, except where the employment is terminated. (See 3.417 Statutory holiday entitlement)
• Leave entitlement under reg.13 cannot be carried forward into the following holiday year, although a relevant agreement may provide for additional leave entitlement under reg.13A to be carried forward into the leave year following the one in which it falls due. (See 3.417 Statutory holiday entitlement)
• The right to minimum paid annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998 applies to workers, not just employees. (See 3.414 Meaning of "worker")
• Unless there is a collective or workforce agreement or contractual term to the contrary, the notice given by workers to take their holiday must be equal to at least twice the length of holiday to be taken, and an employer may refuse a request for leave by giving the worker notice equivalent to the length of leave requested. (See 3.423 Timing of holiday)

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Future developments

3.412 Holiday and sickness absence: In its Consultation on modern workplaces: i) flexible parental leave ii) flexible working iii) Working Time Regulations iv) equal pay (PDF format, 826K) (on the BIS website) launched on 16 May 2011, the coalition Government proposes to revise, among other things, the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) in relation to the carry-over of annual leave. It proposes that the Regulations are amended to allow four weeks' statutory annual leave to be rescheduled and/or carried over into the next leave year when a worker falls ill during annual leave (to comply with recent European Court of Justice decisions on the interaction of annual leave and sick leave (see Stringer and others v HM Revenue and Customs sub nom Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Ainsworth and others; Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund [2009] IRLR 214 ECJ and Pereda v Madrid Movilidad SA [2009] IRLR 959 ECJ)).